Robber-trap.



W. LEON.

RUBBER TRAP.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20. 1916.

l ,200,629 Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

' AHOE/var WILLIAM LEON, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

ROBBER-TRAP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 10, 1916.

Application filed January 20, 1916. Serial No. 73,137.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM Lnox, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Robber-Traps, of which the following is a full, true, and exact specification.

My invention relates to improvements in robber traps and has for its principal object to provide an improved and novel form of device for capturing a robber or hold-up man.

My device is particularly well adapted for use in banks and the like where the usual methods of a robber are to approach the tellers window and demand money of the teller.

A further object is to provide means under the control of the teller for automatically protecting the teller from the attack of the robber and at the same time efiect his capture.

Other objects will appear as my invention is more fully explained in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the appended claim.

Figure l is a plan view of my device with parts broken away. Fig. 2 is a cross sectional elevation of same.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, numeral 1 indicates a fragment of a floor of a bank or the like. .A partition 2 rests upon the floor and has the usual tellers table 3 and wicket 4. My device is normally set in and under the floor 1 and includes a cage which may be formed of vertical bars 5, secured at the top to a top frame 6. The top frame is above the floor and preferably fits down into a recess in the floor so as to flush with the top of the floor 1. The bars 5 project up through holes in the floor. The bars 5 are secured to a bottom frame 7 at their lower end. The cage has bars 5 on three sides and a solid plate 8 at the other or front side next the tellers wicket. The plate 8 is secured to the top and bottom frames and passes through a slot in the floor 1. The cage is normally positioned as shown and just described and is raised through and above the floor 1 by mechanism under the control of the teller.-

The operating mechanism includes counter weights 9 suspended from cables 16 one on either side of the cage. The cables are attached to the bottom of the cage and pass over pulleys 11 on the under side of the floor 1. The counter weights are heavy enough to quickly raise the cage and are retained by pawls 12 which are loosely suspended from floor 1. The pawls 12 are retained in normal position and released by toggle bars 13 and bell cranks 14 which are pivoted together. The toggle bars 13 also are pivoted to the pawls 12 and the bell crank levers 14 are fulcrumed to brackets 15. The bell crank levers 14 on either side of the cage are connected by tension rod 16 so that they both operate in unison. A plunger rod 17 is pivoted at the intersection of the forward toggle bar and bell crank lever and projects up through the floor 1 in front of the tellers position and terminates in a foot pedal 18. A spring 19 around rod 17 above the fioor normally holds the mechanism in the position shown. A limit stop collar 20 prevents the spring from pulling the rod 17 too far. When a hold-up man approaches the'teller and demands money, the teller immediately presses the pedal 18 which by means of the toggle action of the toggle rods and bell crank lever releases the pawls 12-from holding the counter weights 9. As the counter weights drop the cage is shot up above and through the floor 1 so quickly as to imprison the holdup man within it. The solid plate 10 protects the teller from the hold-up. An alarm system may be operated simultaneously with the cage by means of spring contact members 21 and 22,

the former of which is secured to rod 17 and the latter to bracket 15 so that as the rod 17 descends, the contacts are brought into engagement and a circuit 23, which includes a bell 24 and battery 25, is closed. Other cages, gates and the like may be operated similarly by the teller at the doors of the bank, vault, etc., from the tellers position if desired.

7 While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I therefore desire to avoid being limited to the exact form shown and described.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

bination of a cage arranged principally beneath a floor and Whose upright members are slidable vertically through openings in said floor, means for normally retaining said cage below said floor and for releasing and quickly raising said cage partially through said floor, whereby When the cage is raised, any one standing on the floor Within the boundaries of the cage Will be imprisoned 1 within said cage, the said means including counter Weights for raising said cage, pawls for normally holding the counter Weights inoperative, toggle and lever means for releasing said pawls, and foot pedal means projecting above the floor for operating said toggle and lever means, the foot pedal being located exterior to the floor outline of the cage.

WILLIAM LEON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

